The Commentariat -- August 30/31, 2019
Late Mornng Update:
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate (August 29): "If one were to consider, again, the articles of impeachment against the three sitting presidents who have historically faced impeachment proceedings, not only has Trump clearly achieved all of them — he actually now achieves most of them in under a week. Every week.... Donald Trump has committed multiple impeachable acts this week alone. There are the emoluments clause violations in attempting to grift the G-7 into paying his resort fees, the promises to pardon lawbreakers who help him build his wall, the threats to sitting members of Congress, and the persistent refusal to honor lawful subpoenas. These are abuses of power, obstruction of justice, and defiance of subpoenas." ...
... Beginning at about 50 seconds in, Joy Reid does a good job of summing up Trump's week that was:
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Reality Chex is back. The whole site was down for about 24 hours, and I had a helluva time getting Squarespace to fix the problem, one that was apparently fairly simple for them to fix once they decided to quit dicking around & take a look at it. I apologize for the inconvenience to everybody. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday canceled his planned trip to Poland this weekend, saying he wanted to remain stateside as a potentially major hurricane takes aim at Florida. Vice President Mike Pence will take Trump's place in Poland, where Trump was scheduled to attend a commemoration event for the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II. 'To ensure that all resources of the federal government are focused on the arriving storm, I have decided to send our vice president, Mike Pence, to Poland this weekend in my place, Trump said from the White House's Rose Garden at an [unrelated] event.... 'It's something very important for me to be here. The storm looks like it could be a very, very big one indeed.'" Thanks to MAG for the heads-up. ...
... Julia Ingram of the Miami Herald: "... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago and Trump Doral resorts in South Florida are within reach of the path that the National Weather Service was predicting Thursday evening.... Some [people] questioned on social media whether the decision to cancel the trip [to Poland] was tied to the president's resorts' locations within the cone.... Others voiced concern that if either resort was hit by the storm, Trump would exploit those damages to reap benefits from insurance. In 2005, the president said he received a $17 million insurance payout for damages to Mar-a-Lago, but the Associated Press found little evidence that the damage matched the price tag.... Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell drew attention when she tweeted Thursday that she was 'rooting for a direct hit' on Mar-a-Lago. On Friday, she deleted the tweet, apologizing 'to all it offended.' She instead posted another tweet saying she wished she could believe Dorian would 'shake up Trump's climate change denial.'" ...
... Kaitlin Collins of CNN: "... Donald Trump will spend the weekend at Camp David monitoring Hurricane Dorian instead of traveling to Poland as planned, but he'll be doing it without a permanent FEMA administrator or a confirmed secretary of Homeland Security.... Trump has warned..., oddly, [the storm] was going to hit 'dead center' -- but it's unclear what he was referring it would hit 'dead center' of. He has multiple properties in Florida, including his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach -- directly in the projected current path of the storm.... On Friday, Trump approved an emergency declaration for the state of Florida." ...
Wow! Yet another big storm heading to Puerto Rico. Will it ever end? Congress approved 92 Billion Dollars for Puerto Rico last year, an all time record of its kind for 'anywhere.' -- Donald Trump, August 27, in a tweet
Hurricane Dorian looks like it will be hitting Florida late Sunday night. Be prepared and please follow State and Federal instructions, it will be a very big Hurricane, perhaps one of the biggest! -- Donald Trump, August 29, in a tweet ...
... Joseph Zeballos-Roig of Business Insider: "As Hurricane Dorian neared Puerto Rico and Florida this week, the difference in ... Donald Trump's messaging has been extremely stark. Trump approved a disaster declaration on Tuesday to better coordinate federal and local response efforts. But he took to Twitter that same day to trash the island's dire financial situation. Then he attacked the mayor of San Juan, and later scolded the island for being ungrateful for the federal aid its received -- from its own government.... As Hurricane Dorian barreled towards the Florida coast -- currently projected to make landfall as a major hurricane -- Trump's message veered in the opposite direction: The full might of the American government stands ready to help. And he urged Floridians to follow the instructions of state and local governments."
... Rebecca Morin of USA Today: "Puerto Rico's leading newspaper slammed ... Donald Trump in a front-page headline that went after his repeated false claim that the U.S. has given Puerto Rico $92 billion for hurricane recovery. El Nuevo Día, which traditionally publishes its articles and newspapers in Spanish, printed an English version of its front page on Friday. 'Mr. President: Your Numbers Are Fake,' the headline reads. 'Although some politicians in Puerto Rico have indeed mismanaged funds and have let their constituents down, Mr. Trump's claims about the amount of money that has actually been assigned to the island are incorrect,' read the the front page."
Trump Blithely Tweets Highly-Classified Image. "I cannot tell a lie; I snapped it with my little iPod. Shane Harris & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "In a tweet Friday, President Trump revealed a detailed aerial image of an Iranian launchpad, an unusual disclosure that may have confirmed the United States is violating Iran's airspace to spy on its missile program. Some imagery experts, examining the angle and very-high resolution of the image, said it may have been taken by an aircraft, possibly a drone.... The image Trump tweeted Friday is almost certainly highly classified, experts said, and bears markings that resemble those made by intelligence analysts.... What Trump shared on Twitter appears to show a camera flash and a person's shadow, leading to speculation that Trump or one of his aides may have snapped a picture of the image using a cellphone.... Hours before posting the image of the Iranian launchpad, he sent several tweets ridiculing former FBI director James B. Comey for sharing memos about his interactions with Trump, some of which were determined to contain classified information.... One memo he shared with his attorneys was later determined to contain information that was classified as confidential, the lowest level of secrecy." CNN's story is here. ...
... David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: "As pictures from commercial satellites of a rocket's smoking remains began to circulate, President Trump denied Friday on Twitter that the United States was involved. It was an unusual message because the Iranian government had neither acknowledged the accident nor blamed the United States. His tweet ended with an apparent taunt: 'I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened' in the fiery accident. But Mr. Trump also included in his tweet a high-resolution image of the disaster, immediately raising questions about whether he had plucked a classified image from his morning intelligence briefing to troll the Iranians. The president seemed to resolve the question on Friday night on his way to Camp David when he told reporters, 'We had a photo and I released it, which I have the absolute right to do'.... A glare on the photograph suggested someone may have used a cellphone to take a picture of the image as it was displayed on a tablet computer, which is how classified images are often shown to the president during security briefings."
... Twitter Amateur Hour, Ctd. "Trump Spends Morning Mistakenly Adding Question Marks to Tweets." Jonathan Chait: "Should General Motors move back to America again? Do many people like the idea of giving capital-gains owners another tax cut? Should President Trump get the time back he lost to the Deep State investigating his corrupt relationship with Russia? Normally, Trump would answer questions like this with a resounding 'yes.' This morning, he phrased all of them as questions[.]... Possibly, in keeping with his new self-style image as King of the Jews, he has decided to adopt a Talmudic style of phraseology, presenting ideas as questions to be sorted through rather than his traditional exhortation. More likely, he has somehow mistakenly entered question marks in place of his trademark exclamation point." ...
Where's Mr. Mustache? John Hudson & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... national security adviser John Bolton's ... opposition to the diplomatic effort in Afghanistan has irritated President Trump, [senior U.S.] officials said, and led aides to leave the National Security Council out of sensitive discussions about the agreement. The sidelining of Bolton has raised questions about his influence in an administration that is seeking a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, as well as an ambitious nuclear deal with North Korea and potential engagement with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Bolton, U.S. officials said, stands in opposition to those efforts, but he does so increasingly from the periphery." Update: The Raw story has a summary post of the WashPo story.
Trump Finds a New Scapegoat. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump wants Americans to understand that the economy is doing great, thanks to him. But if in fact the economy sours, then it is someone else's fault. Mr. Trump's Blame List is long. On top, of course, is Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve -- never mind that Mr. Trump was the one who appointed him. Then there are the Democrats, and not to mention the news media. And on Friday, the president added American businesses to the list, arguing that struggling companies have only themselves to blame and are rationalizing their own mistakes by pointing to, just to name an example, Mr. Trump's multibillion-dollar tariffs and America's biggest trade war in generations. 'Badly run and weak companies are smartly blaming these small Tariffs instead of themselves for bad management...and who can really blame them for doing that?' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. 'Excuses!' He repeated his point later with reporters. 'A lot of badly run companies are trying to blame tariffs,' he said."
Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump's personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, whose office sits in front of the Oval Office and who has served as the president's gatekeeper since Day 1 of his administration, resigned on Thursday, two people familiar with her exit said. Ms. Westerhout's abrupt and unexpected departure came after Mr. Trump learned on Thursday that she had indiscreetly shared details about his family and the Oval Office operations she was part of at a recent off-the-record dinner with reporters staying at hotels near Bedminster, N.J., during the president's working vacation, according to one of the people, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss White House personnel issues.... Ms. Westerhout, a former Republican National Committee aide who also worked for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, reportedly cried on election night because she was upset over Mr. Trump's victory." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd guess Reince Priebus put Westerhout on the job. ...
... Jim Acosta, et al., of CNN: "Madeleine Westerhout was forced to resign as executive assistant to the President on Thursday after Trump learned she had shared information with reporters at a recent off-the-record meeting, during which she didn't say her comments were off the record, according to sources familiar with her departure. A reporter divulged details about the dinner to White House staff...." ...
... Nancy Cook of Politico: "In the past six months, Westerhout had tried to expand the boundaries of her job to encompass a broader set of tasks and to include foreign travel, said one adviser close to the White House, who suggested Westerhout had tried to act like a de facto chief of staff. This irked several White House officials and Cabinet secretaries who thought she should stick to her primary task of serving as the president's personal secretary with a desk just outside the Oval Office.... [A] close White House adviser called [Westerhout's dishing on the Trump family] 'the final straw' for someone who did not have many allies left in the building." ...
... Josh Marshall of TPM: "... a personal assistant position isn't like Defense Secretary, a job in which you are there to work for the American people even though you report to the President. A personal assistant is really supposed to work for the President, be loyal and maintain his legitimate confidences.... She's really supposed to work for Donald Trump the person, not just the office of the President.... As a general matter [Westerhout's blabbing] suggests something we probably already know: that the White House is filled with people who know Trump has no business being President.... But since the relationship is purely transactional these kinds of betrayals are commonplace. It's why the place leaks like a sieve. But something Westerhout shared or said clearly went beyond the pale or got back to the President directly in a way these things ordinarily do not." ...
... Rafi Schwartz of Splinter: "Westerhout can now presumably look forward to a lifetime of book offers, TV appearances, and congressional subpoenas." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Meanwhile, we look forward to reports on what it was Westerhout blabbed. ...
... Update. That Didn't Take Long. Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Madeleine Westerhout ... was fired after bragging to reporters that she had a better relationship with Trump than his own daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, and that the president did not like being in pictures with Tiffany because he perceived her as overweight.... Westerhout also jokingly told the journalists that Trump couldn't pick Tiffany out of a crowd, said one of the people.... Trump on Friday confirmed that Westerhout had been dismissed for talking to reporters about his children, calling the comments 'a little bit hurtful.... It was too bad,' Trump told reporters before leaving the White House for Camp David, adding that Westerhout was a 'very good person' who performed her job well. 'I wished her well.' Trump said he would speak by phone with Tiffany when he reached Camp David, disputing that he had ever personally disparaged his daughter. 'I love Tiffany,' he said." Mrs. McC: Yeah, I'd fire an aide for knocking my daughter, too. ...
... AND Update 2. Katie Rogers, et al., of the New York Times: "At an off-the-record dinner and several rounds of drinks with reporters two weeks ago during the president]s working vacation in Bedminster, N.J., [Westerhout] shared personal details about the president and his family. Ms. Westerhout attended the dinner with Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman. After he left, she began to tell reporters about Mr. Trump's eating habits; his youngest son, Barron Trump; and his thoughts about the weight and appearance of his daughter Tiffany Trump, according to a group of current and former administration officials who were told what happened.... Iit took over a week for the information to reach the president. It was delivered to him by Mick Mulvaney.... An ambivalent Mr. Trump had to be persuaded throughout the day Thursday that Ms. Westerhout, who was on vacation in California, needed to resign, which she did that night.... Ms. Westerhout, a 2013 graduate of the College of Charleston in South Carolina, came to the White House on the recommendation of Mr. Trump's first chief of staff, Reince Priebus...." ...
... digby: "As for Westerhout, it's clear she was wrong about being closer to the president than Ivanka. As for Trump not wanting to be photographed in picture with Tiffany because he thinks she's overweight -- of course that's true. It's who he is." Mrs. McC: P.S. Even tho I agree Westerhout should have been fired, I do see Ivanka's fingerprints all over her ouster. whom do you think "had to persuade" Daddy Dearest to dump a rival for his affections?
Joe Concha of the Hill: "Fox News host Neil Cavuto tore into President Trump during his closing monologue on Thursday, defending his network from the president's criticism earlier this week that Fox 'isn't working for us anymore.'... After reading Trump's tweet, Cavuto said, 'first of all Mr. President, we don't work for you. I don't work for you. My job is to cover you, not fawn over you or rip you. Just report on you.' Cavuto said his job as a journalist covering business and the economy in particular was to report on economic numbers when they are good and bad, and when trade talks are going poorly and when it looks like there will be a deal.... '... I'm not the one who said tariffs are a wonderful thing, you are. Just like I'm not the one who said Mexico would pay for the wall, you did,' Cavuto said. 'Just like I'm not the one who claimed that Russia didn't meddle in the 2016 election, you did'... Cavuto said he was sorry if Trump didn't like these facts being brought up, but that it was not fake to bring them up. What would be fake, Cavuto said, would be if he never brought up things that Trump had actually said." ...
... Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... Trump's battle with Fox illuminates the multi-tentacled manner in which Trump is corrupting our democracy and political system, in a new and interesting way.... What's interesting here is Cavuto’s declaration that many Trump supporters have come to expect and demand from Fox absolute fealty to their leader.... The whole point here is the open declaration that something meant to be a news network should function as his personal 24/7 propaganda and disinformation outlet.... This is a form of insidious corruption -- corruption of our discourse.... Trump has crossed over into a form of autocratic disinformation that is designed to render fact-based deliberation and argument impossible.... Trump's unabashed and open assertion of impunity is a central feature of his corruption. This public flaunting of that corruption -- of our governing institutions and discourse alike -- compounds it and makes it all the more corrosive." ...
What Do You Think a Trump "Opportunity Zone" Is? Jesse Drucker & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "... the Trump administration's signature plan to ... [help America's cities] -- a multibillion-dollar tax break that is supposed to help low-income areas -- has fueled a wave of developments financed by and built for the wealthiest Americans.... The stated goal of the tax benefit -- tucked into the Republicans' 2017 tax-cut legislation -- was to coax investors to pump cash into poor neighborhoods, known as opportunity zones, leading to new housing, businesses and jobs.... Among the early beneficiaries of the tax incentive are billionaire financiers like Leon Cooperman and business magnates like Sidney Kohl -- and Mr. Trump's family members and advisers. Former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey; Richard LeFrak, a New York real estate titan who is close to the president; Anthony Scaramucci...; and the family of Jared Kushner ... all are looking to profit from what is shaping up to be a once-in-a-generation bonanza for elite investors." P.S. Sen. Cory Booker [who seldom meets a rich person he doesn't like] was an early advocate of the plan. Mrs. McC: Bet you got the right answer without peeking.
"Either a 'Russian Asset' or a 'Useful Idiot.'" Sonam Sheth of Business Insider: "Trump's attendance at the G7 summit was peppered with controversy, but none was more notable than his fervent defense of Russia's military and cyber aggression around the world, and its violation of international law in Ukraine. Trump repeatedly refused to hold Russia accountable for annexing Crimea in 2014, blamed former President Barack Obama for Russia's move to annex it, expressed sympathy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and castigated other G7 members for not giving the country a seat at the table.... Trump's advocacy for Russia is renewing concerns among intelligence veterans that Trump may be a Russian 'asset' who can be manipulated or influenced to serve Russian interests, although some also speculate that Trump could just be currying favor for future business deals.... Meanwhile, a recently retired FBI special agent told Insider that Trump's freewheeling and often unfounded statements make it more likely that he's a 'useful idiot' for the Russians. But 'it would not surprise me in the least if the Russians had at least one asset in Trump's inner circle.'" ...
... Another Trump Lie Confirmed. Tina Nguyen of Vanity Fair: "At last week's G7 summit in Biarritz, Donald Trump gave an entire network of world leaders whiplash when he declared, contrary to weeks of threats, that not only did the Chinese seem amenable to a trade deal, but that he'd actually heard from Beijing's top officials that very week. 'China called last night our top trade people and said, "Let's get back to the table." So we will be getting back to the table and I think they want to do something,' the president told reporters. At the time, China's Foreign Ministry claimed to have no idea what Trump was talking about -- the implication being that he'd fabricated the call to calm a panicked market. And on Thursday, CNN reported that this was basically the case[.]" ...
... Here's the CNN story, by Kaitlin Collins & others: "... Donald Trump has become increasingly rattled over the potential of an economic downturn and is spinning to find victories to sell to voters.... Though Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted there had been 'communication' [between Chinese & U.S. officials], aides privately conceded the phone calls Trump described didn't happen they way he said they did. Instead, two officials said Trump was eager to project optimism that might boost markets, and conflated comments from China's vice premier with direct communication from the Chinese. The charged language coming out of the White House in recent weeks largely boils down to this, people say: The economy is flashing warning signs Trump didn't expect, his trade war with China is dragging on months longer than expected yet he refuses to give in and his chief promise to supporters -- that he would build a wall along the southern border -- has gone unfulfilled. Trump, sources say, is searching for an accomplishment to run on in 2020 -- and realizing time is running short to fulfill some of the key promises he made to voters in 2016." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: "Charged language"? "China called last night" was a lie, not "charged language."
Peggy McGlone of the Washington Post: "In his upcoming memoir, newly appointed Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III describes the private tour he gave President Trump of the National Museum of African American History and Culture [in January 2017], recalling that Trump's reaction to the Dutch role in the global slave trade was, 'You know, they love me in the Netherlands.'... The incoming president wanted to come on the holiday commemorating Martin Luther King Jr., according to the memoir. The administration also asked that the museum be closed to the public during the visit.... [Bunch refused]. Another day was chosen.... Before the president-elect arrived, his aides told Bunch that Trump 'was in a foul mood and that he did not want to see anything "difficult,"' Bunch writes. Nevertheless, Bunch started the tour in the history galleries, which begin with the global slave trade." Here's a summary report by Mediaite.
** Josh Marshall of TPM: The "Inspector General report on James Comey and his memos about President Trump ... is typical of Inspector General Michael Horowitz -- basically report the facts, try to avoid discussion of facts or questions that are unhelpful to President Trump and spin the facts in as friendly a way as possible to President Trump. Indeed, beyond Horowitz himself, the report is emblematic of how even seemingly apolitical appointees (Horowitz was appointed under Barack Obama) and members of the bureaucracy routinely bend their duties toward those in power.... But the reality is that Comey was acting as whistleblower. Ignoring the context of his actions is at the center of Horowitz's presentation. It is a dead certainty to anyone with their eyes open that he did the right thing in bringing those memos to public light.... The unstated premise of Horowitz's report is that Comey should have handed his information over to Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein, the two men who had just assisted Trump in what was certainly a substantive corrupt, if procedurally licit, termination, and simply done nothing to alert the country to what had happened. This is frankly absurd." Mrs. McC: You'll have to read more of Marshall's post to get the full impact of his point. Also, too, Marshall's befuddlement with Chuck Todd is classic. (Marshall occasionally appears on MSNBC, so I suppose he doesn't want to alienate the network's suits.) I don't know why anyone thinks Chuck Todd could analyze his way out of a room with an unlocked door.
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Prosecutors said Friday they're prepared for former national security adviser Michael Flynn to be sentenced as soon as October, nearly two years after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the United States. 'The defendant's cooperation has ended. The case is ready for sentencing...,' prosecutors wrote in a filing to the judge in Flynn's case, Emmet Sullivan. 'The government is not aware of any issues that require the Court's resolution prior to sentencing.' But the push to close Flynn's case prompted the former Trump aide's legal team to erupt, charging in a subsequent court filing that prosecutors -- including those central to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election -- had acted maliciously toward Flynn and withheld evidence."
Trumpies Find New Way to Undermine U.S. Health. Laura Reiley of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is limiting scientific input to the 2020 dietary guidelines, raising concerns among nutrition advocates and independent experts about industry influence over healthy eating recommendations for all Americans. For the first time, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, which oversee the committee giving recommendations for the guidelines, have predetermined the topics that will be addressed. They have narrowed the research that can be used only to studies vetted by agency officials, potentially leaving key studies out of the mix. The 80 questions the committee has been asked to answer do not cover several pressing issues the panel explored five years ago. This includes the consumption of red and processed meat, as well as the dramatic proliferation of ultraprocessed foods, which account for a growing percentage of calories consumed by Americans. Nor will the committee explore appropriate sodium levels for different populations." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Under the new guidelines, I bet we'll find out Trump's diet of Big Macs & fries is very healthy. And I suppose ketchup will be classified as a vegetable.
Presidential Race 2020
Joe's Amazing War Story. Matt Viser & Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "Joe Biden painted a vivid scene" of an event he experienced on a trip to Afghanistan while he was vice president. "'This is the God's truth,' Biden had said as he told the story. 'My word as a Biden.' Except almost every detail in the story appears to be incorrect. Based on interviews with more than a dozen U.S. troops, their commanders and Biden campaign officials, it appears as though the former vice president has jumbled elements of at least three actual events into one story of bravery, compassion and regret that never happened.... In the space of three minutes, Biden got the time period, the location, the heroic act, the type of medal, the military branch and the rank of the recipient wrong, as well as his own role in the ceremony." Biden has told variations on this story several times before. Update: Matt Stieb of New York recounts the WashPo story.
... Mrs. McCrabbie: By Ronald Reagan's standards, Biden is super-qualified to be president. ...
... Facts Matter. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Now Biden has pushed back -- mainly by arguing that there's no problem with what he did, because he got one key fact about the story, and the spirit of it, correct. This is not a good response.... 'I was making the point how courageous these people are,' Biden [told the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart], adding: 'I don't know what the problem is. What is it that I said wrong?'... What's troubling is Biden genuinely doesn't seem to see a problem here.... The Democratic nominee against Trump simply cannot treat facts as if they are expendable in this fashion -- no matter how well-intentioned he is."
Ella Nilsen of Vox: "The Iowa caucuses have been thrown into serious turmoil. Six months after the Iowa Democratic Party presented its plan to the Democratic National Committee to hold a so-called 'virtual caucus' over a phone system alongside the regular caucus this February, the DNC will recommend rejecting the plan, per a statement from the national party. The DNC cited concerns the phone system used for tele-caucusing could be susceptible to hackers.... On Friday afternoon, top DNC officials announced they would recommend the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee reject Iowa and Nevada's plans for their tele-caucus system. The DNC added the committee would consider a waiver if the states can't comply with a mandate to increase inclusivity in their caucuses.... The alternative could be to move Iowa to a primary election, but the state would then almost certainly have to move back in the calendar because New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status is literally written into the state's law."
Congressional Race 2020. Jeremy White of Politico: "Former Rep. Darrell Issa wants to make a comeback, and is eyeing a path that would put him head-on with embattled Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter. The California Republican has launched an exploratory committee, according to a website that recently touted his PAC but has since been updated to say that he's pondering a run for the state's 50th Congressional District.... Donald Trump nominated Issa to be the director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, which helps U.S. businesses expand their exports to emerging economies, but the process has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for nearly a year.... Hunter ... [faces] a January trial for alleged campaign finance violations.... Even if Hunter steps aside, Issa will face formidable Republican competition from former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who wields broad name recognition and has a knack for fundraising. Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, meanwhile, is taking another shot for the seat after coming within a few points of dislodging Hunter last year."
Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times, produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting: "A military judge on Friday set Jan. 11, 2021, as the start of the joint death-penalty trial at Guantánamo Bay of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four men charged with plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed 2,976 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The date set by the judge, Col. W. Shane Cohen of the Air Force, signals the start of the selection of a military jury at Camp Justice, the war court convening at the Navy base in Cuba. It is the first time that a trial judge in the case actually set a start-of-trial date, despite requests by prosecutors since 2012 to two earlier judges to do so."
Politico: "Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's account on the social media platform was compromised Friday afternoon, the company confirmed in a tweet.... Before Twitter could regain control of Dorsey's account, whoever hijacked it retweeted several offensive messages, racial slurs and a message that said 'nazi germany did nothing wrong.'"
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
... Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney proclaimed with a straight face on Friday morning that ... Donald Trump has never lied to the American people, asserting that Trump has only ever exaggerated and spun. During an interview with former one-term tea party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), who recently announced a long-shot primary bid against Trump, the Fox host took issue with Walsh's insistence that Trump is a pathological liar," and the two got in a back-and-forth. At one point, Walsh asked, "Stuart, do you believe this president lies?" "'No,' Varney replied.... 'He exaggerates and spins.'... 'Okay. Do you believe he's ever told the American people a lie?' Walsh pressed again. 'No,' Varney stated.... Varney's delusional declaration that the president -- who has told at least 12,000 lies and false statement since entering the White House -- has never lied comes on the heels of Trump 2020 campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany saying the same thing on CNN earlier this week, flooring CNN anchor Chris Cuomo." ...
... AND Do Not Make Fun of Bret Stephens. Jack Mirkinson of Splinter: "New York Times columnist Bret Stephens' meltdown over being jokingly referred to as a 'bedbug' reached unbelievable new heights on Friday night, when Stephens used his latest column to make a barely-veiled comparison between the professor who mocked him and the Nazis.... ([George Washington U. professor David] Karpf joked that reports of bedbugs having been found in the Times office were a 'metaphor,' adding, 'The bedbugs are Bret Stephens.') Stephens immediately flipped out.... Stephens ... says that he sees a lot of parallels between the Nazi era and now.... 'The political mind-set that turned human beings into categories, classes and races also turned them into rodents, insects and garbage. 'Anti-Semitism is exactly the same as delousing,' Heinrich Himmler would claim in 1943.... Watching Warsaw's Jewish ghetto burn that year, a Polish anti-Semite was overheard saying: 'The bedbugs are on fire. The Germans are doing a great job. Today, the rhetoric of infestation is back." Emphasis Mirkinson's. ...
... ** Full of Sound & Fury, Signifying Nothing. Mrs. McCrabbie: Do read Adam Jettleson's tweet & southpaw's subtweet, which Mirkinson links. Turns out Stephens' deep "research" on anti-Semitic references to insects is controverted by the very text he cites. Confederates, even the ones who win Pultizers, are hacks with vocabularies. Bret quit Twitter in a huff to protect himself from ridicule like Karpf's; now he should quit the Googles to protect himself from himself. ...
... Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "So, to summarize, the Nazis are being invoked not to criticize, say, the Trump administration preparing to deport people receiving life-saving medical treatment, but as an analogy for a white guy with a high-status barely-work job ... being mildly criticized on Twitter. Did I mention that this the columnist who thinks that somewhat mean tweets about him are like the Holocaust sent emails to at least two administrators trying to get the guy fired and has written an endless series of columns about how the kids today with their safe spaces and trigger warnings need to learn how to be made uncomfortable and put up with speech they don't like?" Mrs. McC: Also, do read the comment by Nobdy, which Lemieux appended to his post. Maybe Bret's Never-Trumpism is really all about self-loathing. ...
... David Atkins of the Washington Monthly: "Big media organizations have a Bret Stephens problem. It could also be called a David Brooks problem. Or a George Will problem. But Bret Stephens' embarrassing actions in the bedbug controversy over the past few days make him the perfect poster child for a challenge that spans the much of the journalism industry.... [Stephens] He and others like him allow editors and ombudsmen to include 'conservative opinion' without actually giving voice to conservatism as it truly exists today.... The problem, of course, is that men like Stephens, Will and Brooks -- and they almost uniformly middle-aged or older white men -- represent very few people in actual civil society.... For what it's worth, they do this on the left as well.... A better approach would be to hire Trump loyalists willing to defend the president and his actions (as well as those of Senate Leader McConnell and the Roberts Court), while strictly adhering to standards of fact-checking and anti-racism." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, David. As noted above, the Times, for instance, isn't bothering to fact-check Stephens. And Brooks has boasted in the past that his editor has never questioned a single column he's written.
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. Jessica Taylor of NPR: "Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey has apologized for wearing blackface during a skit at Auburn University more than 50 years ago. Ivey said Thursday she still doesn't recall the incident, but after a recording surfaced of her discussing the sketch with her then-fiancé and later first husband, Ben LaRavia, Ivey admitted it must be true.... In February, the Auburn student newspaper uncovered yearbook photos of members of Ivey's sorority appearing in blackface, but the governor denied she ever participated." Here's a video version of the story by AL.com. It includes the audio that Ivey was unable to dismiss.
Illinois. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Friday pardoned an Army veteran who was deported to Mexico in March 2018. Pritzker granted the pardon to Miguel Perez Jr., who was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. legally as a child. He served two tours in Afghanistan, where he suffered a traumatic brain injury. Perez was later convicted of a non-violent drug offense in 2008 and sentenced to 15 years behind bars. He served seven-and-a-half years in prison and was then taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement upon his release. He was later deported after former Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) denied a petition for clemency. 'Miguel Perez should not have been deported. The bigoted immigration policy of President Trump and failed leadership of former Governor Rauner have caused unfortunate circumstances for a U.S. veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan,' Pritzker said in a statement.... Perez's family, including two children and parents, live in Illinois and are U.S. citizens. It was not immediately clear if or when Perez would return to Illinois."
Way Beyond
Hong Kong. Mike Ives & Austin Ramzy of the New York Times: "In a day of defiance and chaos, Hong Kong protesters who had been banned from protesting on Saturday gathered anyway, clashing with the police near central government offices and the Chinese military headquarters in the most intense day of conflict since the protests began in June. As government helicopters hovered above the city, riot police officers used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons against crowds of protesters who had gathered outside government offices and the headquarters of the Hong Kong legislature. Some of the protesters had thrown firebombs. The police pumped lurid gushes of blue-dyed water into knots of protesters, indelibly marking those who were at the most intense spots of clashes -- presumably so the demonstrators, many of whom wear masks, could be identified later." The AP story is here.
News Ledes -- August 31
New York Times: "Five people were killed and more than 20 others were injured in a brazen daylight drive-by mass shooting near the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa on Saturday, as a gunman drov on the highways and streets opening fire on residents, motorists and shoppers, the authorities said. The attacks terrified a region with a combined population of 263,000 at the start of Labor Day weekend. Police officers and state troopers tried to keep drivers off the highways. Chief Michael Gerke of the Odessa Police Department said at a news conference on Saturday evening that the gunman, a male in his mid-30s, was dead, and that three law enforcement were shot. He did not give a motive, but said that the attack began as a traffic stop." ...
... The Dallas Morning News story is here. It is being continuously updated. "The shooting began after 3 p.m. Saturday, when a DPS trooper tried to stop a Honda on Interstate 20. The driver shot the trooper and continued driving west into Odessa and shot another victim on the highway, police said. At some point in Odessa, the gunman abandoned his Honda, hijacked a mail carrier's truck and shot more people, Odessa police Chief Michael Gerke said. The gunman, whose name has not been released, drove east toward a movie theater, where law enforcement personnel fatally shot him, Gerke said."
New York Times: "Leslie H. Gelb, an iconoclastic former American diplomat, journalist and prodigious commentator on world affairs, died on Saturday at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 82.... Mr. Gelb was 30 years old when in 1967 he took day-to-day charge of the team that compiled the secret Pentagon Papers.... He later worked as an editor, columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for The New York Times, the newspaper that had overcome a court challenge by the Nixon White House and in 1971 published the papers, which revealed a damning evolution of Washington's intervention in Vietnam. Mr. Gelb served as assistant secretary of state and director of the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs during the Carter administration from 1977 to 1979. He was president of the Council on Foreign Relations, the prestigious ... think tank peppered with policy experts and former officials, from 1993 to 2003."
New York Times: "Hurricane Dorian intensified to a Category 4 storm late on Friday as it swirled toward the United States, and forecasters on Saturday were projecting a sharp swerve north along the Florida's eastern shore before it makes landfall. It was good news for Floridians, who could now be spared a direct hit. But the powerful storm is still dangerous, and much of the state remains in the area that forecasters believe could be assailed by heavy winds, rain and storm surge. Dorian was about 300 miles east of West Palm Beach, Fla, early Saturday morning, sustaining winds near 140 miles per hour." ...
... New York Times: "Officials in the northwestern Bahamas ordered the evacuation of low-lying areas and opened shelters in churches and schools on Saturday as they braced for a potential direct hit from the intensifying Hurricane Dorian.... The National Hurricane Center warned that because the storm's movement had slowed, the area should prepare for 'a prolonged period of life-threatening storm surge and devastating hurricane-force winds.' Rainfall of up to 15 inches was expected over the northwestern Bahamas, accumulating to as much as 25 inches in some areas. The storm was expected to cause surges of more than 15 feet, Bahamian officials warned."
... Update at 8 pm ET. Miami Herald: "With winds nearing 150 miles per hour, Hurricane Dorian remained a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Saturday evening as it approached the Bahamas, even as forecasters predicted it might spare a direct hit on Florida. Still, the timing of the storm's northward turn remained a cause for concern for Floridians as government authorities urged residents to nevertheless prepare for the worst. At 5 p.m. the National Hurricane Center issued a tropical-storm watch for a swatch of the east coast, from Deerfield Beach to Sebastian Inlet, meaning winds of that strength could reach the coast in 48 hours. The storm's projected path -- skirting the entirety of the Florida coast while churning northward -- also was now drawing concern for states such as Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. But the Bahamas was expected to first bear the storm's brunt on Sunday."
AP: "Sirhan Sirhan, imprisoned for more than 50 years for the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was hospitalized Friday after being stabbed by a fellow inmate at a San Diego prison. 'Officers responded quickly, and found an inmate with stab wound injuries. He was transported to an outside hospital for medical care, and is currently in stable condition,' the statement said. The statement did not name Sirhan, but a government source with direct knowledge confirmed to The Associated Press that he was the victim."
News Ledes -- August 30
New York Times: "Forecasters expect Hurricane Dorian to arrive somewhere along the east coast of Florida early on Tuesday morning. But exactly where is still a mystery, with some prediction models suggesting a direct blow to Central Florida and others projecting the storm to veer north or south." ...
... Weather Channel: "Dorian has strengthened into a Category 3 major hurricane and is forecast to intensify into a powerful Category 4, posing a prolonged danger that may last days in Florida and the southeastern United States beginning Labor Day weekend." The front page links related stories. ...
... The Miami Herald front page links to numerous hurricane-related stories. The paper is providing free, unlimited access to all of its stories as Hurricane Dorian approaches Florida. ...
... Politico: Florida "Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday the Florida Highway Patrol would soon begin escorting fuel trucks to help resupply gas stations in advance of Hurricane Dorian. Gasbuddy, whose representatives helped state officials track fuel shortages in 2017 during Hurricane Irma, reported Friday that more than half of gas stations in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area were out of fuel, stretched from the demand of drivers filling up before the storm hits."
New York Times: "Valerie Harper, who parlayed a sidekick role as the leading lady's unprepossessing best friend on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' into a star turn of her own in the hit sitcom 'Rhoda,' died on Friday. She was 80."
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